Metalevel tools can support the software development process by automating the design of task- and application-specific tools. Dash is a metalevel tool that allows developers to generate domain-specific knowledge-acquisition tools from domain ontologies. Domain specialists use the knowledge-acquisition tools generated by dash to instantiate the concepts and relationships defined in the domain ontologies. The output of the knowledge-acquisition tools is a collection of instances that constitute the knowledge base for a knowledge-based system.

Modelers create descriptions of a problem in part to assess their understanding of the problem situation. We postulate that these descriptions, i.e., models, are often constructed in our minds, i.e., mental models, and that their complexity forces the modeler to use external memory aids such as pencil and paper. The purpose of this paper is to report on an exploratory study of the use of sketches, i.e., diagrammatic representations, by modelers expert in the construction of mathematical models in the context of management science. In addition, we suggest a theoretical framework for the role of diagrammatic representations in the process of constructing mathematical models.